Turn Back Time
by akaJB
Summary: A N/S Piece. Nick and Sara have just told everyone about their relationship when Nick is shot and Sara is kidnapped while on the job... *COMPLETED* (Unless you want an epilogue) Please Read and Review...
1. And the story begins

Turn Back Time  
By Joey  
  
Disclaimer: Okay, I don't own any of these characters, well except for the attacker, and any character you haven't heard of. (I wouldn't mind owning Nick… or Greg… (although they're both a little (okay a lot) old for me )   
  
Anyway… please read.. and review.. I'd like to know what you guys think. If you like it, or hate it, doesn't matter, I'd still like to know your opinions. (Constructive criticism)   
  
Umm.. I haven't watched CSI for that long, but I'm already obsessed (both me and my roommate) with the show. It's awesome, I love it (although it's very cheesy at times, especially the first season).   
  
NOTE: This takes place in the future.. not far, just a couple months (assuming Nick and Sara get together right now). Yes, this is a NICK AND SARA story (there aren't enough of these out there). Nick and Sara are already together when this starts, if I feel like it, I might eventually explain how they got together but for now…   
  
Today was the day. They'd talked it over the morning before, after shift, over breakfast at IHOP. The topic had originally risen a couple of weeks earlier, but they'd both needed the time to build their courage.   
As Nick pulled his Tahoe into it's parking spot and switched off the engine, he glanced over at Sara. She shared his look of nervousness, before she reached over for his hand. He grabbed hers, and gave it a quick squeeze, both of them taking a deep breath before opening their doors and escaping the safety of the Tahoe and heading inside.   
The two had spent hours debating how they would make their "announcement." Their conclusion? To just say it.   
Everyone else, including Greg, had already gathered in the waiting room, drinking coffee and waiting for their assignments when Nick and Sara entered.  
"Good evening," Catherine greeted them, starting the quick exchange of greetings from everyone minus Grissom. Grissom just glanced up briefly, before returning to his crossword.  
Nick left Sara's side briefly to grab them cups of coffee, before returning to stand by her, the two looking out at their colleagues, their friends, their family.   
"Umm…" Nick paused and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "A… umm… we have an announcement." Nick started, looking over at Sara, who nodded that he should continue. "Umm… we're… we've… we're dating," he finally spit it out. Everyone exchanged glances, nodded, and went back to what they were doing. (Except Warrick and Greg, as Warrick was eagerly excepting the money that Greg was passing over).   
Sara found her voice first, "Umm guys? Are there really no comments?"  
"We've known for a few weeks," Greg supplied.   
At Nick and Sara's shocked looks, Warrick added. "Give us some credit. We are the top crime lab, and I think we all have pretty good observation and deduction skills."  
Greg then added, "And I saw you two kissing in the locker room."   
Grissom spoke up. "And you were always arriving and leaving together."  
Warrick nodded, "Yeah, I saw you guys holding hands quite a few times when you thought no one was around."  
Grissom smiled at Sara and Nicks still shocked expressions. "You guys often smelled of each other's cologne/perfume."  
Greg laughed, "And Sara, you wore one of Nicks shirts one day."  
Warrick added, "And when we had dinner at Nicks house that one night, some of Sara's stuff was still on the counter."  
Catherine then spoke up, "And in the bathroom, sorry Nicky, but I didn't think you kept feminine "products" lying around," She paused, laughing slightly at Greg's disgusted look, and Sara's look of embarrassment. "And the looks, don't forget the looks. Oh, but I do have one question. How long?"  
Nick paused, mentally counting. "Around 4 months I think."  
"15 weeks, and 4 days," Sara countered, off of Nick's look of surprise, "I can't help it if I'm accurate."  
Catherine nodded her had slowly, "Hey, we were pretty good, we'd worked out your relationship to be between 14 and 17 weeks."  
"Okay, now you guys are just creepy," Nick shuddered, causing the others to start laughing, before he too joined in. After a couple of moments, Nick turned to Grissom. "Okay, what are the cases for today?"  
"Well," Grissom pushed his crossword puzzle to the side and pulled out the assignment slips.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Two Weeks Later~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Okay, here are your assignments," Grissom told the group gathered together in the break room. "Warrick, you're on your own. It's a teen suicide. Cath, you'll be working with me on a possible drowning. And Nick and Sara, you two have a suspected murder/suicide." Grissom passed out the assignment slips as everyone slowly made there way towards the doors. "Oh and Greg?" Greg looked up from where he'd been exiting the room. "Can you be ready to compare a pile of blood samples for me? Also, Ecklie's got some day shift work that needs to be done pronto, got it?"  
"Yep," Greg nodded, heading out the door, the others following behind.  
Nick watched as Sara grabbed her baseball cap from her locker, before following her out towards his Tahoe, carrying their case kits.   
"Keys?" Sara asked, turning towards Nick.   
"Keys?" Nick replied, raising an eyebrow. "Umm.. I don't think so. My car, I drive."  
"Oh really," Sara said as she walked towards Nick. Nick saw her coming, and having a bad feeling about her plans backed up. But Sara had out thought him he quickly realized as his back bumped up against the Tahoe.  
"No, NO!" Nick protested as Sara moved closer and closer. "Come on Sara…"  
Sara leaned forward, placing one hand behind Nick's head, pulling it down. At first Nick protested, before giving in, leaning forward for the kiss. The kiss that never came. Sara's other hand had been busy, sinking into Nick's jeans pocket, pulling out his keys. She waved them in front of him as she pulled back teasingly, before moving away and entering the Tahoe. Nick just leaned against the Tahoe stunned for a moment before he, too, moved and entered the Tahoe on the passenger side, buckling his seat belt as Sara pulled out of the parking lot.   
They drove in silence for a few minutes before Sara spoke up. "What, now you're not talking to me?"  
"Hey, that … that was cruel and uncalled for and – and cruel…" Nick protested, refusing to look at Sara.  
"Oh my god," Sara gasped, almost getting Nick to turn around and face her, but she spoke before he could move. "You're pouting. You're honestly pouting."  
"No I'm not," Nick immediately protested, turning to look at her.   
"Oh yeah you were, admit it. You, Nicholas Stokes, was pouting," Sara said, taking one hand off the steering wheel to point at him and laugh.   
"Hey," Nick grabbed her hand, pointing her finger away from him, before prying her fingers open, and weaving his through hers. He sighed, holding her hand tightly in his as he stared out his window.   
"You okay?" Sara asked, her voice no longer playful, but serious.   
Nick turned to look at her carefully, studying her face for a reaction as he replied. "Yeah, just… just thinking. Do you…" Nick sighed again, looking away, for a sec, only turning back after Sara tightened her grip on his hand. He could feel her concern. "Do you ever regret… this.. us?"  
"What?" Sara had to let go of his hand quickly, as she accidentally swerved, shocked by his question. "What?" She repeated after she had gotten the Tahoe back under control.   
"Never mind," Nick said, turning away from her.   
Sara pulled the Tahoe over to the side of the road, before turning in her seat to look at Nick. "Nick, I don't regret anything. Being with you has made me happier than well.. then I've ever been before. Nicky, the word regret has never even come to my mind when I think about us." Sara watched Nick carefully, but he refused to face her, his head hanging down. She could see a few tears that had escaped making their way down his cheek. She waited for him to reply, but when it became apparent that he wasn't going to, she switched on the turning signal before pulling back into the traffic, heading for the crime scene.   
As they pulled up in front of the house, Sara glanced over at Nick. He was busy staring out the window, and as soon as the pulled to a stop, he jumped out of the vehicle, heading straight for Brass. Sara sighed, before following after Nick.   
As they entered the house, the first thing Sara noticed was the metallic smell of blood. It didn't take them long to find the crime scene, the kitchen. The first body, a female, lay face down on the ground, multiple bullet wounds in the back, blood pooling around her body. The second body was hidden slightly by the island counter in the kitchen, but the legs were apparent, sticking out towards the female body. Sara walked around the counter to get a better look at the male. He was sitting against the cupboards, gun in hand, single bullet shot to the forehead. As she crouched down, looking for any obvious clues, Nick joined her.   
"See anything?" Nick asked, snapping pictures of the guy's position, the bullet wound, the gun in his hand, and the close ups of all the things.   
"No," Sara shook her head, standing up, trying to get rid of the dancing white dots in front of her eyes from the camera flash.   
Ten minutes later the two were still busy gathering evidence. Sara was collecting blood, and Nick was searching for the spent bullet casings. He'd found three so far, and had marked them, but with the 5 shots the women had received, and the one the male had, he was still busy trying to locate the missing three.   
They had already tested the male's hands for gun powder residue, which came up positive to no one's surprise.   
Brass had left with the Coroner minutes earlier, leaving the two alone in the house.   
"Hey Sara?" Nick spoke up. It was the first word he'd said to her since the car ride, and Sara looked up eagerly.   
"Yeah Nick?"  
"Do these look the same to you?" Nick held up to bullet casings. Sara moved over to beside him. She took the two casings from him and scrutinized them carefully.   
"A Nicky, you going blind?" Sara questioned him playfully. "This one's got some blue on it, and this one doesn't have any traces of that, and besides, don't they seem to be different sizes to you too?"  
"That's what I thought, and you know what that means…"  
"Yep, we've got two shooters, and that means, either a missing gun or a missing person with the missing gun."  
"Right," Nick gave Sara the first genuine smile she'd seen all evening. "I guess I'll start searching the rest of the rooms and see if I can find that missing piece."  
Sara just nodded, already back beside the blood stains, carefully collecting evidence.   
The next few minutes passed by silently, each doing their own work, busy collecting the evidence. Sara heard it the same second Nick felt it.   
"Ah!" Nick shouted, falling to the ground, his left hand immediately reaching to grab his right forearm, trying to stop the sudden rushing of blood.   
"Nick?" Sara shouted, leaping off the ground, pulling out her cell phone and dialing as she ran through out the rooms searching for Nick.   
"Hello?" Grissom's voice picked up on the other end.   
"Griss? Something's gone wrong. I think someone's here, I just heard a shot and then Nick screamed and…" Sara was interrupted when a hand snaked out from behind her and grabbed her, covering her mouth and muffling her shriek.  
"Sara?" Nick shouted, trying to move through out the house. He felt dizzy, and knew he was losing too much blood, that he shouldn't be moving, as it was jerking his arm, each move creating a new rush of blood.   
"Sara?" A smaller voice joined Nicks. The voice was coming from her cell phone that now lay on the ground. "Sara? Sara what's going on?"   
"Nick?" Sara tried to scream, trying to fight off her attacker but it was to no good. He pulled her out of the house, cutting off her air supply until she passed out. When the attacker felt her go loose in his arms, he reached into his pocket, extracting a cloth soaked in chloroform, before covering her mouth and nose with it, confirming that she'd be out for a while.   
As Sara was being dragged from the house, Nick managed to make it to the front door. He watched helplessly as a black truck drove sped away from the crime scene before he slumped to the ground unconscious.   
  
  



	2. My Own Prison

Turn Back Time

Chapter 2

By Joey

Thanks for the reviews guys. I was very surprised at how many I got. MissyJane, can't wait for your next fic, I've read all of the other 7 and they're awesome!! I have to say that you and Andorian Ice Princess have both inspired me to write a CSI fic. I've written friends one's in the past. Anyway… here's the fic. And don't forget to review again.

Minutes later Grissom, Brass and a group of backup police cars showed up at the house. The front door was open, and they could see a figure slumped in the doorway. The police ran up to the door first, while a few more circled to the back. As the police stormed the house, one stopped, bending down to look at Nick. "We need an ambulance!" The police officer shouted back. 

Grissom moved to go forward, but Brass placed a hand on his shoulder, keeping him back. "You can't go in yet, wait for them to clear the house."  
Grissom nodded grimly, watching from the side as he could see the shadow's of the police officers moving throughout the house. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes, one of the officer's left the house and came over to them, announcing that the house was cleared. 

Grissom leap forward in action, rushing up the front steps to where Nicky lay. One of the police officers had been working, trying to revive him and to stop the flow of blood from his arm. Grissom pushed the officer to the side, taking control of the situation. He opened his field kit, pulling out a length of gauze that he kept, and started to wrap Nick's arm, trying to stop the blood. Just as he was finishing, the sound of the ambulance approaching interrupted his thoughts, and he moved to the side to let the professionals get to work. When he tried to enter the ambulance, the attendants gently pushed him away, telling him that he could instead meet them at the hospital. Grissom nodded, not in the mood to argue, to worried about Nick, who had yet to wake up. He barely even nodded to Brass, before he leapt into his Tahoe and followed the ambulance away from the crime scene. 

As he entered the waiting room, he searched his pockets for some quarters, before moving to the bank of payphones. Lifting up the receiver, he dialed the phone number he knew by heart, Catherine's cell. She picked up after a couple rings. 

"Cath?" he asked.

"Yeah Gris? What's up?" Catherine replied. 

"We've had an accident?"  
"What kind? Are you hurt? Where are you?" the questions started to flow. 

"I'm not hurt, I'm okay. It appears that someone else was involved in the murder/suicide that Nicky and Sara were investigating. He, or she, showed up. I'm at the hospital," Grissom started before he was interrupted. 

"Are they okay? I'll be right there."  
"Nick's lost a lot of blood. He was shot in the upper right forearm, and he hasn't woken up yet. Sara… we don't know where Sara is Cath. She wasn't at the house."

"She what?" Cath shrieked into the phone, causing Grissom to hold it away from his ear briefly. 

"Cath, just get down here. And bring Warrick and Greg as well, okay? I think they're both back at the lab."  
"We're on our way." Catherine replied before hanging up the phone.

Grissom followed suit, before he moved over to the information desk. He asked for Nick, but wasn't surprised when they told him that he couldn't see him yet. He nodded his thanks, and went in search of a cup of coffee before sitting down in the hard plastic chairs, watching the other people in the emergency room. The parents that were crying, the kids that were howling, and the few that reminded him of himself, just sitting there silent, too shocked to say anything. 

That was how the rest of the team found him when the showed up a few minutes later. Catherine was the first to speak up. "Have you heard anything?"  
Grissom jumped when he heard her voice, not having seen the group approach. "Wha? Oh.. No." Grissom stood up to stretch, and before he knew it Catherine had her arms around him in a hug. He hugged back awkwardly waiting for her to let go. She did so after a couple moments, pulling away only to search his face for some emotion, some inkling towards what was going on. 

"How is he?" Warrick finally asked. 

"I don't know, they haven't said anything, but he didn't look good when we brought him in. He'd lost a lot of blood, and he hasn't woken up that I know of." Grissom told them.

"And Sara?" Greg wanted to know. "Where is she? What's going on?"  
"A neighbor said that she heard gun shots. We think that who ever shot Nick has taken Sara with him," Grissom supplied his team. He sighed, "I know we all want to stay here for Nick, but we need to get over to the crime scene. This has turned into a missing persons case, these next 48 hours are going to be vital towards finding Sara." 

"What? Right now?" Catherine was shocked at Grissom's apparent insensitivity. 

"We don't know when Nick's going to be able to have visitors, and we don't have any time to waste," Grissom replied evenly. "If we're going to find Sara, we need to get on top of things." Grissom looked at his teammates faces, their faces were all conveying the fact that they thought he was being insensitive. "The best way we can help Nick is by finding Sara. I know that, and I know that you know that." The team didn't look any more convinced. "Come on, if we don't get there soon, Ecklie's going to take over." _That_ got the team into action. Everyone started moving, no one wanted Ecklie to take this away from them, they knew he'd screw it up. 

Just as they were heading out the door, Nick's doctor walked through the door, stopping them in their tracks. 

"According to Nick's medical file, Gil Grissom and Catherine Willow are listed as his emergency contacts. Are you…?"

"I'm Catherine," Catherine stepped forward. "This is Gil, and Warrick and Greg here are just as much family as we are. Do you have any news?"

"We're moving Nick into a private room. He woke up briefly while we were prepping him for surgery, but is under anesthetic right now. He should be waking up within the next hour, and we'd like there to be someone with him. From what we understand he went through, we want to avoid any possible shock. He lost a lot of blood before getting here and we had to give him a transfusion. Do you know if he has donated blood in the past? We're worried we might need to give him another transfusion, and if he has…"  
"We have some at the office," Grissom replied, off of the doctor's surprised look. "We all give monthly because of the job hazards. I'll have someone bring his over immediately." Grissom glanced over his team quickly. "Greg? Why don't you stay here with Nick. There won't be anything you can do until we've processed the crime scene anyway. Page us when he wakes up, okay?"

Greg nodded, and watched as the CSI's left the emergency room, leaving him with the doctor. 

"Kind of insensitive, isn't he?" the doctor asked, leading Greg towards Nick's room.

"Not as much as you think," Greg shook his head. "He's right, these next two days are vital towards us being able to locate Sara. Nick.. Nick and Sara are dating, I'm not sure how well he'll recover with out her whereabouts known." 

Sara woke to the bright flash of a camera. She blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the dots flashing before her eyes, and to focus the blurry images in front of her. Just as things were focusing the camera flashed again, this time coming from behind her. 

She went to move her hands, only to find they were tied behind her back, attached to the chair she was sitting on. Slowly, but with quickening speed, images of the events that unfolded in the house flashed before her eyes, the sounds following milliseconds behind. "Nick," Sara gasped, remembering the sound of the gun shot echoing throughout the house, the sound of Nick's cry of pain. "Nick," Sara shouted louder this time, only to hear laughter in response. She tried to swing her head around, but that only induced a headache, the effects of the chloroform returning in full force. "Who's there? Where's Nick?" Sara cried out.

"I am here, and here I am," the voice replied through it's laughter. "And Nick? Nicks' dead my dear," the voice laughed hysterically at that. "Smile, you're on candid camera!" 

"NO!!!" Sara screamed, as the camera flashed again, the lends directly in front of her face. She watched as a man dressed in black pulled the film from the camera. A Polaroid, Sara identified it instantly. Expensive pictures, but immediate results. They'd used them often at crime scenes before.

The man was focused on the pictures in his hand, watching them fade in. "Ah, perfection," man cried out gleefully, waving the pictures about. "I'm sure Nicky will appreciate these pictures of his girlfriend," the man laughed again, walking around to behind her. A moment later she heard a door open and then close and then a key being stuck in the lock, sealing her in her prison of a room.

Once the man was gone, Sara finally started to take a look around the room in which she was being kept. Was there anything there she could use to unite her hands, or to help her escape from this prison?

The walls were made of stone. Although she couldn't touch them, she could tell that they appeared to be slimy, possibly covered with a mold of some kind. The door she knew was behind her, and off to one side she could hear water dripping, a sound she was sure was from some leaky pipe, or roof. She didn't think it was the roof, because she couldn't seen any natural sunlight, the only light coming from the small bare bulb that was hanging about her head. She decided that she must be being kept in a basement. In front of her she could see a small cot, with a threadbare pillow and an even worse looking sheet.

As her gaze continued to travel the room, her mind's focus moved over to Nick. He couldn't be dead, he couldn't. Wait, her mind backed her up to the "conversation" with the man in the room, he'd said Nicky was dead, but a moment later he said that he was sure Nick would enjoy the pictures. He must be alive. Without even realizing it, Sara let out the breath she hadn't known she had been holding. He was alive. 

But with that relief came fear. She knew he'd be shot, she'd heard the gun, just as she'd heard Nick's cry of pain. And backing up even earlier that shift, the car ride over to the scene. She didn't even know what had made Nick start to question her feelings. What had she missed along the way? So many questions, but no answers that she could find. But she knew how that she would get out of here. She had to. 

She'd been on the phone with Grissom when all hell had broken loose. He would've arrived minutes after she had left. He was probably there now, Sara decided. Him, Catherine and Warrick. They'd be busy processing the scene. The scene had elevated in those few seconds from a simple murder/suicide to attempted murder and kidnapping of an officer. 

That they'd work overtime to find her. All she needed was a little faith. A little faith and a lot of luck.

Greg sat by Nick's side, watching as his friend slept a drug induced sleep. He knew how much Nick hated sleeping pills, and wasn't really looking forward to when he woke up. Not only would Nick be mad about the drugs, but what was he suppose to tell him about Sara? What could he say to make Nick feel better? 

He wished Grissom had left Catherine behind. She was the mother figure of the team, and the one who knew best at how to comfort others. She'd know what to say, or what to do. 

He'd only started his CSI training a couple of weeks ago, but he was hoping that Grissom would let him start to get into the field soon. He knew he could help them at the crime scene. He wanted to help, wanted to be involved more than just the deliver of news. He..

Greg's thoughts' trailed off when he noticed that Nick was shifting on the bed. He watched Nick's eyes flutter open.


	3. Good Times Gone

Turn Back Time Part 3

By Joey

AN: Thanks for all the great reviews guys. I hope the formatting comes out okay. I'm not use to posting from a mac, and am having more trouble with it then I normally have :( 

For the person who asked about friends, if you click on my name, I have a few up, but almost none of those are finished cos I ran out of ideas. If you want to read (in my opinion) best fanfic, you should read Queen of Hearts, which I co-wrote with my best friend. Part of it is up here, but the whole thing is up at http://www.geocities.com/queenofhearts2008 

Anyhoo.. onto the story (oh yeah, and the characters aren't mine. They never were, they probably never will be (never really say never, cos I wouldn't mind if they wanted to switch hands). I'm sure I could have some fun with them. grins evily

Okay, the story:

"Nick?" Greg asked softly. "Nick?"  
"Huh?" Nick replied with a groan, as he moved slightly in his bed, He tried to shift his right arm, but the flash of pain that crossed his face told Greg that the pain medication was quickly wearing off. 

Greg reached out and placed a hand on Nick's shoulder, trying to keep him in place. "Don't move Nick," Greg told him softly. 

"Greg?" Nick asked, confused, blinking his eyes against the sudden glare of lights. "Greg? Where am I?" As the panic started to take over, Nick's voice grew louder, his movements bigger.

"Nick, calm down, you have to stop moving. You might pull your IV out." Greg pushed Nick back down on the bed. "You're in the hospital, do you remember what happened?"  
Nick finally managed to keep his eyes open. "Greg?" Nick moved his head until he could see Greg sitting at his side. "What's going on? What happened? Why can't I move my arm?"  
"You were shot over at the crime scene," Greg replied softly. "We're not sure what happened exactly, we need you to tell us what you remember. Grissom, Catherine and Warrick are there now." Greg paused, tears coming to his eyes as he looked at the man he thought of as his best friend. "You lost a lot of blood Nick, they had to give you a transfusion." 

Nick nodded silently, letting the information sink in before he turned to Greg, voicing his next question with a single word. "Sara?" 

Greg turned away, he didn't know what to say. 

"Greg, where's Sara? Is she alright?" Nick's voice got louder and higher with every word he spoke, or in reality, shouted. "Greg, what happened? Did she die? She died didn't she?!" Greg felt the tears start to slide down his cheeks as Nick continued to speak. He didn't even hear the doctor enter the room until Nick start to protest. 

"No, I don't want a tranquilizer, I just want answers. Greg, don't let him do this. Greg…" Greg turned back towards Nick as Nick's cries died off. Nick was sitting on the bed with a grin, the Doctor standing beside him holding a needle. 

"Sara's dead," Nick said with a smile, grinning like a madman. "I saw her leave in a black truck…"

"What?" Greg turned to his friend, "Nick, what did you say?" 

"Sara.. she left with the bad man.. he shot me with his gun because I knew he was there…the bullets were different… very different," Nick continued rambling on and on, as Greg grabbed a piece of paper, attempting to scribble all of Nicks words down, knowing that there were sure to be clues in his comments.

The doctor turned to Greg as he was leaving the room, "page me when the tranquilizer wears off. I can come by and give him more if needed."  
"No," Greg shook his head violently. "Nick doesn't like tranquilizers. I don't want him to have any more. He's going to be upset as it is when he comes out of this one."

The doctor nodded, leaving the room, and Greg turned back to Nick. The tranquilizer had taken hold completely now, and Nick had slumped onto his back again, out cold. 

Greg watched him for a couple minutes, before pulling some quarters from his pocket and heading to the pay phones to page Grissom. 

Grissom moved throughout the kitchen, trying to finish off Nick and Sara's original crime scene. Warrick and Catherine were also spread throughout the house, searching for the clue that would bring them closer to knowing who had done this. 

He could hear the police officers as they wandered around the lot, constantly watching the perimeter, kind of like security guards.

He was so deep in thought that the vibration of his pager made him leap into the air. He quickly calmed himself done, before reaching for his cell phone, calling Greg back.

"Hello?"  
"Greg, it's Grissom."

"Hey Grissom," Greg replied. "Nick woke up briefly, but he became so agitated that the doctor gave him a shot to calm him down." Greg paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "He was acting really weird before the tranquilizer knocked him out completely. He was saying all this stuff. Stuff about a truck, and how Sara's dead… wait, there was something else. I wrote it down, just a sec."  
Grissom could hear the pages turning through the phone, but they didn't register in his mind. _Sara's dead_? Why would Nick be saying that? Did he see something that made him believe that? Before Grissom could think to long on the topic, Greg's voice returned. 

"Here it is. Nick was saying something about the bullets. How they were different. How he was shot cos he knew he was there. Does that make any sense to you Grissom?" Greg paused, waiting for an answer, but Grissom didn't reply. "Grissom? Hheellloooo??" Greg called into the phone. "Anybody there?"

"What? Oh yeah. Thanks Greg," Grissom replied absently, "we'll be back there in a couple of hours when he's waking up again. I have some questions for him." Grissom closed his phone, cutting off any replies from Greg. He crouched down again collecting a couple of the bagged shells off the floor. He looked at them closely, silently comparing the two, before finally seeing what Nick had seen only hours earlier. 

Grissom moved quickly from the kitchen, heading towards Catherine and Warrick. He found them standing in the office on the second floor, looking at a blood splatter that was covering part of the desk.

"What do you see?" Grissom asked, holding out the two bags for inspection. Catherine took one and Warrick the other, both staring at the shells intently before switching bags.

"Nothing?" Warrick replied first. 

"No, look closer," Grissom shook his head, and Catherine held the two bags together. Grissom watched their faces intently, and knew the second that they had discovered what he had.

"Are those…" Warrick trailed off.

"I'm not seeing things, am I?" Catherine asked, both looking at Grissom closely.

"No. I just got off the phone with Greg," Grissom started, only to be interrupted immediately.

"Yeah? What'd he say?" Warrick asked. 

"How's Nick doing?" Catherine questioned.

"He said that Nick woke up, but he was starting to panic, and the doctor gave him a tranquilizer." Catherine shuddered at the thought, and Warrick winced. 

"He's not going to be happy about that," Warrick commented.  
Grissom just nodded, before continuing. "Apparently just after the doctor gave it too him, Nick started to talk about various things and Greg was smart enough to write the comments down. He talked about how the bullets were different," Grissom pointed to the bags Catherine still held, "and how he saw a black truck. He also said that Sara's dead."  
Catherine gasped at Grissom's statement. "He what?" 

Grissom reached out and placed a hand on her arm. "Hold on Cath, I don't think he actually thinks that. I believe it might be different random thoughts getting confused together. He knows he was shot, but he might be getting it confused with Sara's disappearance, and think that she was the one shot instead."

"But you don't know," Catherine reminded him.

"No, I don't. But to go about this case thinking Sara's dead is the wrong attitude. We need to believe she's alive. Besides," He looks around the room, "you guys have been searching the house, how many scenes like this did you find?"

"Only this one," Warrick nodded, knowing where Grissom was going.

"Exactly, that would mean that only one shot was fired and we know that Nick was on the receiving end of that shot. My guess is that the person originally shot Nick to incapacitate him. As he was getting away, Sara got in his way. He grabbed her, and took her with him." Grissom threw out his suggestion.

Warrick nodded slowly, thinking before shaking his head. "Well, I agree with some, but are you sure that it wasn't planned to _get_ Sara?"  
Before Grissom could reply, Catherine spoke up. "Okay, we don't know his reason yet, but we can figure out what Nick's path through the house probably was. I'm sure he was originally working in the kitchen with Sara," she stated, to which the other two nodded. "Okay, so then he discovers the bullets and probably shows Sara, who confirms what he sees. He leaves the kitchen, to see if he can discover why there would be three people involved, not just two." Once again, Warrick and Grissom nod, following her theory. "Somehow he ends up in this room," Catherine moves over to the doorway, pretending to be Nick. "The guy comes up behind him and shoots Nick," Catherine pretended to fall forward into the room, close to the desk and the blood splatter. "Nick cries out, which causes Sara to leave her crime scene."

"And that's when she calls me," Grissom interrupted. "She said that she heard a shot and Nicks cry of pain, and then I could hear a crash, like the phone dropped…"  
"So we should be able to find the phone, and place Sara's position," Warrick finished off Grissom's thought. 

"Right," Catherine nodded. "And Nick, well this room's not far from the kitchen, and the whole house is pretty open, so he probably heard the scuffle that occurred when the guy grabbed Sara."

"Yeah, gotta be sure that _she_ didn't go without a fight," Warrick tried to bring some humor into the situation. "I _know_ I'd never want to be on her bad side."

Grissom smiled at Warrick's attempt before trying to continue the theory they had developing. "So Nick probably moves towards Sara. He wants to help, he's her white knight." (just a little reference to Andorian Ice Princess's amazing story Liquid Death, which you all should read. Although, I'm referencing it to the wrong character :)).

"We can probably follow his exact movements by the blood," Warrick reminded them. "He was bleeding pretty badly from the shot, and only managed to make it to the door before he passed out."

"Which could be where the truck comes in," Grissom added. "Nick probably made it to the door in time to see the 'getaway' vehicle, the black truck!"

"If this guy was here during the shootout," Warrick started, "and I'm pretty sure we can assume he was, then it's possible he might have gotten cut, or shot or hurt during that time. I think we need to get Greg back into the lab so he can test all the blood samples from the scene. It's quite possible that he left some of his DNA behind."  
Catherine nodded. "I say we finish grabbing the samples from here, and take them to the lab and then go to the hospital. Nick should becoming out of his tranquillizer in the next hour or so, right?" Grissom nodded. "And that's probably all the time we need to finish up. We really need to talk to Nicky while he's lucid to get down what he saw and remembers happening."

"I'll go and phone Greg to tell him the plan," Grissom told them, heading for the door. "You two finish up with the blood samples so we can get out of here." 

"Got it," Warrick turned back to the blood splatter on the desk corner, taking a few final pictures, before grabbing some q tips and containers for the swabs. Catherine also waved to Grissom, before turning as well to help Warrick with their task.


	4. The Gift

Turn Back Time Part 4

By Joey

Disclaimer: Well, I still don't own them. :( but maybe one day. Please Santa, please? Yeah, that'll never work considering I'm not a great fan of Christmas. 

Anyway, thanks for the reviews although it appears that if I stop asking, you stop reviewing :( so I'm going to ask again, please review my story. It's only motivating to write if people are reading.   
Also, in exactly a week today, I'll be done exams, so I should have lots of time over Christmas break to write and perhaps finish this story. Anyway, on with the story…

After making the quick trip to the lab, Warrick, Catherine and Grissom piled into Grissom's Tahoe and headed for the hospital. When they reached Nick's room, they found Greg sitting by his side, reading a magazine, a small notebook by his side.

"Hey Greg," Catherine whispered, going over to the young lab tech's side. "How's he doing?"

"He should be waking up anytime now," Greg replied after quickly greeting the other three. "Thank god you guys are here this time. I didn't know what to tell him about Sara. I _still_ don't."

"No one does," Warrick replied, comfortingly. "But knowing Nick, he'll want the truth. Besides, he always seems to know when we're lying to him."  
"Did you guys find anything helpful at the scene?" Greg asked after thinking over Warrick's remark for a second.

"We've got a pile of blood samples for you to take a look at in the lab," Grissom replied. "After we talk to Nick, I need you to go back to the lab and start on them ASAP. We also saw what Nicky meant about the shell casings, and I've taken them over to ballistics, so they should be working on those at the moment. We're still trying to determine the exact replication of events that occurred in the house."  
"Why Sara? Why did this guy take anyone with him at all?" Greg continued to question, wanting to feel in on the details.

"We're not sure," Catherine replied for the others. "It's possible that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, like Holly was. Whatever the reason, he's now made this crime personal."  
"I don't think it's personal. If it was, how did this guy know that Sara would be at that crime scene? It would have to be really personal in order to kill two others as well. Anyway, we don't know of any connection between the victims and Sara, do we?" Greg asked. 

"No," Grissom shook his head, "But we don't know if he killed both of the two. We saw the difference Nick was talking about. We'll have to wait for the autopsy report, but I think we'll find that at least one of victims wasn't shot with the gun found at the scene. That's good reasoning Greg, but at this point, I don't know what to say. It's possible that Catherine's right, that Sara was just in the wrong place, but we'll have to see what the evidence says. And at the moment, we also need to hear from Nick."

At the sound of his name, Nick started to move on the bed, slowly opening his eyes to find the three full CSIs, and CSI-in-training/Lab tech staring back at him.   
Catherine reached out and took his hand in hers. "Nicky, how are you doing?"

"My head hurts," Nick replied with a moan, "and my arm, but that one I understand. What the hell is wrong with my head?!"

"The doctor gave you a shot earlier because you were freaking out," Greg replied softly, looking at his shoes, refusing to look at Nick. 

Nick nodded slowly, the memories of the past few hours coming back to him. He looked at the four faces around him slowly before finally speaking up, "Have you found any trace of Sara?"

The four were shocked by the calm tone of his voice as he looked back at them squarely. Grissom recovered first, and spoke up. "That's one of the reasons we're here. We want to know if you can tell us what happened in that house. We're already been there and processed the scene, but we'd like you to confirm what we think happened."

Nick nodded, trying to pull himself into a sitting position. Grissom and Warrick immediately leapt forward and helped him, adjusting his pillows. 

"We were in the kitchen, and I had been marking the locations of and bagging the shell cases when I thought I noticed something. Two of the shell casings looked different, I moved over to Sara's side, asking her for confirmation. When she agreed, I got up to look around the house, I wanted to see if I could find any reason towards there being a third person involved. I entered the study and was moving towards the desk when I heard a noise. I spun around, at first thinking it was Sara, but all I saw was a person streaking out from behind the desk, a gun in one hand, which they fired at me." Nick smiled ruefully, as he looked at his bandaged arm, "Thank god this guy didn't have that good of aim, as he was really close and could have easily finished me off. I remember crying out in pain, and then trying to follow the guy. Sara was in the house still and I wanted to get to her. I could hear her fighting with this guy, and I tried to follow, but I was losing a lot of blood, and was having trouble standing. I made it to the front door in time to see the guy place Sara in his truck before he zoomed off. She looked like she was dead, you know, limp and everything." Nick's voice started to go slightly hysterical as he said the last sentence. Catherine was immediately at his side, giving him a light hug. 

"It's okay Nick. It's all going to be okay," Catherine told him softly, before facing the group. "I'm starting to think that this guy who grabbed Sara must have had one hand over her mouth and nose. If he could hold on long enough, she'd pass out."

"Right," Warrick nodded, "But if he let go too soon, she'd quickly become conscious again, so my guess is that this guy had to have something on him that would knock her out."  
"Which means, if Sara's kidnapping wasn't planned, this guy probably used it to on one of the victims."

"Which means, I'll test for any of the common drugs, like chloroform, as soon as I get back to the lab," Greg added excited. "If there aren't any traces on the two victims, we can probably say that this kidnapping was planned, right?"

"Right," Grissom nodded, smiling slightly at Greg's enthusiasm.

"I'll go phone Robbins, and tell him that we need some blood samples from the victim's ready for Greg as soon as we get there," Catherine suggested, heading out the door, pulling some change from her pocket as she left. 

"Okay Nick," Grissom pulled a second chair close to Nick's side, and sat down, pulling out his notebook. "I need you to rethink everything that happened in there, I need to know all the details, everything you remember. Every comment, every move, everything, like are you positive this killer was a man?"

Ten minutes later Grissom, Catherine and Greg left Warrick and Nick at the hospital, heading for the lab. Grissom was going to help Greg with the tests, and Catherine needed to get home as she had to take Lindsey to the dentist. "Her first filing," Catherine had told the others, to which Nick had shuddered, telling Catherine to tell Lindsey good luck. Catherine's only response was that she'd bring Lindsey around after. 

Warrick sat down beside Nick, the two of them sitting there silently, neither knowing what to say. What _can_ you say in this type of situation? That you're sorry? But what for, it wasn't Warrick who'd kidnapped Sara.

Nick broke the silence, when he raised his good arm, bringing it down quickly, to punch the bed, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "Why?"

A simple word to understand, but one that always brings long and windy answers. Answers that never bring relief, only more questions, more confusion, more problems. But before Warrick had a chance to give the appropriate "I don't know" Nick continued his question, confusing Warrick. 

"Why did I do that? Why am I so … so… SO STUPID sometimes?" Nick turned to Warrick, "I think I love her Warrick, I really do." Nick paused before continuing softly, "I'm sure that I'm falling in love with her more every day."

"Okay…" Warrick wasn't sure where this was going. "That's good…"

"Then why did I do that? Why did I have to bring that up today. Of all days, TODAY!"

"Nick, you couldn't have know what was going to happen today, none of us knew," Warrick looked at Nick for a moment, before adding. "And what did you do anyway? It can't have been that bad."

"Oh but it is," Nick looked over at his team mate, his friend. "It is. I…" Nick stopped, sighing as his mind rushed back to that conversation that seemed to have taken place so long ago, but in reality had occurred less than twelve hours ago. Nick changed his course of attack, looking over at his friend. "Warrick, has.. has Sara ever talked to you about me?"

"No, not really," Warrick shook his head. "Nick, you guys only let us know a couple weeks ago, I haven't actually had many cases with Sara since then. And when I have, she's been all work. Personally, I think she's worried that Grissom is going to put you guys on different shifts, thinking that you guys won't be as good of workers if you're placed on a case together."

Nick nodded, "I know. We've discussed that before. But she's never talked to you about our relationship?"  
"Not really, just a few comments here and there. She really likes you Nick, hell, most of us could see that the two of you liked each other before you even started dating." Warrick looked at Nick's sad face, before asking warily, "What happened today Nick? What'd you say?"

"I think…no, I thought she might not want to be with me anymore," Nick finally blurted it out, watching as Warrick's face change to one of shock, before Warrick could say anything, Nick continued. "She's… She's been different ever since we told you guys. She doesn't ever seem to want to talk to me at work, and when I've tried approaching it after hours, she just brushes it off, or says how she's tired and needs to sleep. I.. I know it's probably nothing, I just…I need _her_ to tell me that. I need to know that she still wants to be in the relationship. At least when you guys didn't know, if something happened, if we broke up, I knew that I wouldn't have to deal with comments from the rest of you. Now it's just… now it's weird."

Over in the room that had become Sara's new temporary home, Sara was sitting there bored, counting the rocks on the wall to pass time. She'd recovered from the effects of the chloroform, and the man had yet to return another time. She'd spent a while working on getting undone, but it wasn't long before she realized she hadn't been tied, but handcuffed, and probably by her own handcuffs. 

She'd just finished counting the sixth column, when she heard the door open behind her. Immediately, she could feel the fear spread across her body, and she tried to force it away from her face. Trying to put a look of confidence and strength on her face instead. Tried, but she knew she wasn't winning any wars at the moment. 

She waited as the man walked forward, circling around from behind her, slowly coming to a stop in front of her. She could see in his hands a small rectangle of paper, as well as a red pen. He looked at her carefully for a moment, at least Sara thought he did. He was wearing a navy blue ski mask and dark reflective sunglasses, successfully masking his face off. Sara stared back at him defiantly, waiting for whatever was to come next.

"I'm going to untied one of your hands," the man finally spoke up. "You are going to sign this piece of paper, writing exactly what I tell you too."

Sara didn't reply, just watching, not sure what was about to come.

"You are!" The man raised his voice, shouting the words at Sara. 

She tried not to flinch, but she couldn't help her self. As the man shouted at her, she knew that her flinch was noticeable to him, as he immediately lowered his voice, sneering with delight at her movement. 

He moved behind her and uncuffed one hand, clicking the handcuff back into place around the back of the chair. He gripped her free wrist tightly in his hand, moving back around to her front. He handed her the pen, letting go of wrist, but pulling a gun out from his back pocket. With the gun trained on her, he handed over the piece of paper, which turned out to be a small card, the type delivered with flowers. On the front, was a picture of a heart, which had an angry slash through it, breaking it into two. 

Sara hesitantly opened the card, with the one hand, trying to balance it on her knee and write at the same type. Quietly she asked "What do you want me to write?"

"To Nick, I heart with a slash through it, like on the front, you, Sara," The man replied, watching as she carefully followed out his instructions.

As Sara drew the heart, a tear rolled down her cheek, dropping onto the card, smearing some of the writing. She tried to ignore it, finishing off with her signature.

When she was done, the man grabbed the card and pen back, before recuffing her hand behind her back. He then left the room, letting the door close with a resounding bang, reminding Sara of how trapped she was.

Nick fell asleep a few minutes after talking to Warrick, but woke up again a couple hours later. He was surprised to find himself alone in the room. He turned his head slightly towards the window, the only source of light besides the beeping machines. Blocking his view, was a long box, the type that flowers are sometimes delivered in. A bright red ribbon circled the box, producing a large bow on the top. 

Nick gently moved himself up into a sitting position, reaching for the box. He grabbed one end of the ribbon, pulling gently, until the bow came undone, the ribbon falling useless to the sides of the box.

He pulled off the top covering of the box, where he found a card resting on white tissue, the shapes of flowers visible slightly beneath it. He flipped on the light that was beside his table before reaching for the card. 

Pulling it out of the small envelope, he frowned at the depiction on the cover. A heart that had been broken in two with an angry slash of a black pen. A little weary now, (but thinking that it could be a joke from Greg) he opened the card, his eyes immediately registering the loopy scrawl in the card as Sara's before he even saw her signature at the bottom. He read the card once, twice, thrice over before putting it down on the bedside table, the frown on his face growing into confusion and anger. 

He moved the tissue paper aside, and found that he was looking at a bouquet of dead flowers. Roses, he noted subconsciously. The dried red petals looking creepily the shade of dried blood. 

He stared at the flowers and the card for a few more minutes, before the severity of the gift sunk in, and he grabbed the button for the nurse, jabbing at it impatiently, before covering the flowers back up.

When the nurse entered the room he immediately spoke up. "Do you know where Warrick Brown is? He was here when I feel asleep a couple hours ago." 

"No," the nurse shook her head. "Would you like me to go page him?"  
"That's okay," Warrick said as he stepped into the room. "Sorry Nick, just stepped out for a couple minutes to grab a cup of coffee."

The nurse left the room, after confirming there was nothing else she could do for them.

Nick waved Warrick over to a chair. 

"Look what I received," Nick told Warrick, picking up the flower box and placing it on his lap.

"What flowers?" Warrick laughed at his friend. "You wanted to brag to me that you got flowers?!"

"Nope," Nick shook his head, "I wanted you to phone Grissom for me, unless you have your crime scene kit here with you. I'm hoping that there'll be some fingerprints left on the box." Nick pulled off the lid, showing Warrick the dead flowers. He heard Warrick's sharp intake of breath, before Nick reached for the card. "Yeah, I think we missed a visit from our kidnapper," Nick continued, opening the card, after showing Warrick the front, so he could read the message inside. 

"Is that…?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, that's Sara's writing," Nick nodded. "I recognized it instantly. Do you have your kit here?"  
"No, but I'll go phone Grissom right now. Besides, maybe he'll have some updates on the case." Warrick stood up and headed out of the room as Nick closed the box and moved it back to the table.


	5. Picture Of You

Turn Back Time

By Joey

Well, once again, let me just remind you how I don't own the characters. I never have and it's doubtful I ever will. (Never say never). 

Anyway… please review, it makes me want to continue when I know there's lots of people waiting for more. But at the same time, thanks for all the reviews I've received.

Sorry for this chapter taking so long, but … I've had a hard time deciding exactly where I was going and stuff. You know.. stupid writer's block, but hopefully I'm over it now :). I'm on break from University until the 5th, so I should be able to get a lot more posted over the next week and a half, if not finish off this story, fingers crossed everyone (although you might want to do that after you review, it's hard to type with fingers crossed… trust me :)). Anyway.. on to the story…

Grissom arrived and collected the box of flowers from Nick to take back to the lab for Greg to run tests on. Warrick left with Grissom at Nick's insistence that they all needed to be working on the case, there was no time to lose.

When the two arrived back at the lab they immediately headed to Greg's lab and handed him the bag containing the box, which was placed as number one on the priority list. After they had done that, the two went and sat in the break room, discussing the evidence they had so far collected. 

"Personal?" Warrick asked Grissom as they sat down with cups of coffee.

"That letter sure made it personal," Grissom replied, sipping his coffee slowly. "If we start to assume this case is personal, they I believe we have _two_ cases on our hand instead of just one. There's the shooting at the house and Sara's kidnapping." 

"Which we should know if they're two separate cases based on the presence of a sleeping drug, right?" Warrick questioned Grissom.

"Right," Grissom nodded. "In fact, Greg should be finishing up that test, let's go see if he has any results yet."

Before the two could even stand up, Greg walked into the break room with a piece of paper. "I got some results for you," Greg told the two, heading over to the counter to grab a cup of coffee first.

"Is it about the…" Warrick trailed off.

"Chloroform," Greg finished off Warrick's sentence, before nodding. "Yeah, it wasn't found in any of the other bodies."  
"Then how do you know it's chloroform?" Grissom asked. "It could be any number of drugs."

"I know," Greg nodded, "but I was thinking about it, and this kidnapper would've had to _soak_ a cloth in whatever he used in order to be sure he had enough. He therefore would have had traces of the chemical on his hand. These traces would be then transferred along with his finger prints whenever he needed to touch anything, such as.."  
Greg was cut off as Grissom finished his sentence "on the door knob when leaving the house."

"Exactly," Greg nodded. "I scanned the prints first, because I'd need to ruin one in order to get enough of a sample. I then ran one print, setting the machine to exclude any of the ingredients involved in fingerprinting dust and the tape, and I came out with minute traces of chloroform."

"So then it _was_ planned," Catherine said as she entered the room, catching the last of the conversation, Lindsay following behind her. 

"Catherine, Lindsay," Grissom said, standing up, welcoming the little girl with a hug as she rushed forward toward him. 

"Hey Lindsay," Warrick moved away from the table, creating room for Lindsay to turn her attack over to him. 

"Hey Uncle Warrick," Lindsay greeted him, climbing onto his lap. She looked over at Greg, who was pouting.

"Hey Linds, no hug for me?" Greg continued to pout. 

Lindsay laughed as she climbed off Warrick's lap and launched herself at the young lab tech, giving him a big hug. 

"How's your mouth Linds," Greg asked the young girl as she sat on his lap. 

"It hurts," Lindsay pouted, causing Greg to tickle her until she smiled again. "Yeah?" Greg questioned and Lindsay nodded. Greg leaned in, as if to whisper a secret, "well, you should beg your mom for ice cream, it always makes your mouth feel better," Greg whispered, causing Lindsay to laugh. "In fact," Greg set the little girl on the ground, "I think we might have something right here." Greg opened the break room fridge and withdrew a popsicle and handed it to Lindsay who thanked him, before tearing off the wrapper.

"My mom always gave me one after the dentist," Greg told the other adults who had been watching the exchange. "It keeps your mouth frozen…" Greg's look turned sly, "And occupied." Greg watched as first Warrick and Catherine's mouths fell open in shock, Grissom following a couple seconds later, as the double meaning of his words sunk in. Greg just started laughing at their expressions. "Oh man, that was _so_ worth it!" He said in between fits of laughter, the others laughing right along side of him.

"I don't get it," Lindsay looked at the grown-ups confused, before looking back at her popsicle.

"It's okay," Catherine told her daughter. "Anyways," Catherine continued once everyone had calmed down. "I just wanted to stop by and see if you guys had learned anything new before we head over to the hospital to see Nick."

"Just the chloroform," Grissom started, but Warrick interrupted him. 

"The flowers, you weren't hear for the flowers, were you?" Warrick confirmed.

"No, what flowers?" Catherine asked, looking between the three men.

"The kidnapper sent Nick dead roses," Grissom started and Catherine gasped. "He also included a card. It had.. It had a heart on the front with a black line through it, splitting it into two. Inside the card was Sara's signature."  
"Are you sure?" Catherine asked.

"Yes, we've had it compared by a hand writing expert, and Nick also agreed that it was a match. But that's not necessarily bad news, at the moment, it's at least a small guarantee that Sara was … is still alive as of recently." Catherine nodded slowly, attempting to let all the information sink in. "We also have some fingerprints that we're sure are the kidnapper and so we're running them right now." Grissom looked at Catherine sympathetically. He knew she thought of the younger four, Nick, Sara, Warrick and Greg, especially the youngest three, Nick, Sara and Greg, as almost her kids. She was always looking out for the four, handing out advice when she felt it was needed. "Cath, why don't you take Lindsay to see Nick, I'm sure he'd love to have visitors. We'll page you if the fingerprints come out before you get back here."  
"Okay," Catherine nodded slowly, before moving towards the door, Lindsay trailing behind her. "I'll be back soon."

"Nick," Lindsay shouted as she rushed over the bed where Nick lay. Nick smiled at the young girl. 

"Hey Linds," Nick greeted her. "How was the dentist?"  
"Yuck," Lindsay shook her head in disgust. "Are you okay? Mommy said you were shot!"

"I'm okay now," Nick tried to smile for the young girl, trying to reassure her, even though he knew that he was far from find. How could anyone expect him to be fine when his girlfriend was missing. Kidnapped, and by some guy who seemed to have it out for him. "Why don't you give me a hug kiddo."

Lindsay looked over at her mom, and when her mom nodded, she climbed up onto the bed and gave Nick a big bear hug and kiss. 

"Excuse me?" 

All three heads turned towards the door, where the voice had come from. A teen in a candy striper uniform stood there nervously. 

"Yeah?" Nick asked, giving the young girl a smile. 

"Um, this was found at the nurses station. It has your name on it," the teen hesitantly walked into the room, before handing Nick an envelope. 

"Thanks," Nick took it from the girl, smiling at her.

"Welcome," the teen replied before quickly exiting the room. 

"Who's that from?" Cath asked, sitting down in the chair that had been previously pulled up to the side of the bed by Greg. 

"I don't know," Nick shrugged in confusion, before wincing from the pain that shot up his left arm. 

"Can I open it?" Lindsay asked, eyeing the envelope. 

"Sure…" Nick started, but then paused, remembering the flowers. "Actually, you know what, can you do me a big favor Linds?" 

"Un huh!" Lindsay replied excited.

"Can you take this dollar and go and buy me a pop?" Nick asked, pulling a dollar bill out of his walled that was sitting on his bedside table.

"What kind?" Lindsay asked, as she headed for the door. 

"I don't know, surprise me," Nick winked at the small girl, who giggled before running out of the room. He then turned his gaze to Catherine. "Do you think it's another thing from the kidnapper?"

"I don't know, let's see what's in there before we panic."

Nick nodded, before taking a deep breath and slowly opening the envelope. He let the contents drop onto his lap. It was a pile of Polaroid's. Starring back at him from the first one, was him and Sara leaving work together a couple weeks earlier, the two seem to be too focused on each other to notice the camera.

Nick carefully picked up the file, and started to flip through them. The next was of him and Sara kissing, then Sara entering her apartment, Nick and Sara the last crime scene before Sara was kidnapped. The last three pictures are the ones that made him gasp and cry out. First was a picture that showed Sara in a chair from behind, her arms handcuffed behind her. The next had Sara from the front, showing the cloth that was being used to gag her, before finally, in the last picture, a close up of Sara where the fear in her eyes was evident as she attempted to stare defiantly at the camera. Nick dropped all the pictures to his lap except for the close-up. That he held onto, unable to look away from Sara's eyes. 

Catherine, who'd be watching the entire time, grabbed the pictures off of Nicks' lap, quickly flipping through them before grabbing her cell phone from her back pocket and flipping it on. "Grissom?" Cath asked, just as a nurse stormed into the room, somehow knowing she was on a cell phone.

"You can't use cell phones in the hospital," the nurse said angrily, but Catherine held up her hand, trying to ward off the attack, while listening on her phone.

"Yeah Grissom, we've got another package. It's bad." Catherine looked over at Nick who was still staring at the picture, she moved over until she could see it, a gasp escaping before she could attempt to suppress it. She took the picture away from him, instead replacing it with the two of them before the kidnapping, the ones with him and Sara kissing and leaving work. "What is it? Pictures… No… No she's still alive… at least from the pictures she is." Catherine looked over at Nick for a second before moving away from him and towards the door, and therefore towards the nurse.

"Give me the phone," the nurse held out her hand. 

"This is police business," Catherine replied, holding out her badge. 

"Doesn't matter," the nurse replied. "Cell phones interrupt with the machinery around here. I need you to turn it off."  
"Fine, give me two secs." Catherine turned her attention back to the phone. "Grissom, I missed what you said. Can you just come down here, or get someone to come? They're getting mad about the cell, I got to go… Okay.. bye." She turned to the nurse. "There, are you happy now!?"

The nurse turned and left, not responding to Catherine, who sighed and turned back to Nick who was still sitting there quietly, in some kind of shock. 

She went back over to him, gathering the pictures, except for the two she'd gave to him to hold and placing them in the envelope. Just as she was about to say something, Lindsay came running back into the room.

"Guess what Uncle Nick? Guess what kind I got you!?" Lindsay said, hiding the can behind her back.

Nick snapped out of his daze to look at Lindsay. He'd heard the question, but he couldn't get himself to respond to her. Catherine, having watched the exchange quickly turned to Lindsay.

"Hey Linds," Catherine told her daughter. "I don't think Nick's in the mood for guessing games right now. Why don't you just give him the pop and then you can color a picture for him, okay?"   
Lindsay looked at her mom for a moment, before nodding and moving over to Nicks side to hand him the pop she'd bought at the machine. As she was handing it to him, she caught a glimpse of the pictures Nick was holding. Lindsay paused in what she was doing and leaned forward, looking at the picture intently before looking at Nick.

"Eww… why are you and Sara kissing?" Lindsay asked, in only the way a eight year old can. 

Nick turned and looked at Catherine, who just smiled at him, before turning back to Lindsay. "Sara is my… Sara's my girlfriend," Nick admitted, trying to break it easy to Lindsay. He'd known for a while that the young girl had a crush on him. Although he wasn't alone in her affections, knowing that she also crushed on Warrick and Greg. Warrick he could admit he understood, but Greg? Greg was always a mystery, how he managed to get girls to like him… He watched Lindsay carefully as her face when from excited to … well semi-upset would be a pretty truthful description. But Nick couldn't deal with this right now. "Or I might be more accurate to say Sara _was_ my girlfriend."

"What do you mean?" Catherine looked over at Nick confused. She had been preparing herself to comfort Lindsay, but this definitely sidetracked her. 

"Oh come on Cath," Nick looked at his friend. "Let's be reasonable about this. Yeah these pictures show her alive, but that doesn't mean she still is. Every second that goes by she's getting closer and closer to death." Nick shook his head, attempting to blink back his tears. He then continued, whispering, "besides, I might have ruined everything myself."

P.S. Don't forget to hit that button below and review :)


	6. A New Hope

Turn Back Time

Part 6

AN: Once again, I still don't own these characters. I'm just borrowing them for some entertainment. 

Okay, this part isn't very long compared to the others. But I'm having trouble with my ideas. I'm going to try to finish this off in a couple more chapters cos I don't really like it anymore. I've got a better idea anyway, and I want to try and write one that sticks closer to the format of the show. :)

Sara stretched against the handcuffs, trying once again to free her hands. She knew the effort was in vain, and that she wasn't going to be able to get them off with out a key, but that didn't stop her from trying. There was something about the act of trying that made her feel better. As if by the pain from her wrists as they started to bleed at least let her mind know that she was doing something, not nothing, in an attempt to escape. The line that many trekkies have stated came to her mind, bringing a slight smile to her lips. "Resistance is futile."

But in Sara's world, there is no such thing as 'futile'. One can always try. If you don't have hope, what do you have? This train of thought now brought a Star Wars quote to mind, making her wonder what must be going on in her mind to bring Science Fiction to mind. Yoda's voice echoed through her head "Do or do not. There is no try."

At least it's _Science_ fiction, her mind reasoned, causing another small smile to once again grace her face, before it too disappeared. It left behind a look of frustration, disappointment, anger and many other emotions all rolled into one. She was worried about Nick. She'd heard the shot, and heard his cry of pain. It know felt like that happened months ago, although she was sure that it had been of less time, probably ranging in only a few days. 

The kidnapper had come by again recently, he had her lick the seal on an envelope. An envelope that contained something she hadn't been allowed to see. The kidnapper had kept the contents out of her view, blocking them with her hand, although she was sure it contained something besides a card wishing someone happy birthday. 

There was something familiar about the kidnapper. What (or who) it was, she hadn't been able to figure it out yet, although she knew she should know. 

Even throughout her numerous attempts to pull her arms free had resulted in less than satisfactory results, she found her mind continued to wander to Nick, instead of to the present problem at hand. 

It was a diversion tactic that she'd read about in many science magazines, and remembered hearing presentations about backing in college. When under great stress and fear, the mind often refuses to let itself focus on the problems at hand, instead, bringing forward warm memories. 

Unfortunately, her mind was do as great of a job as she wished it would. Thinking about Nick just made her think about her conversation in the car over to the crime scene, and that just lead to the shot she remembered hearing at the house. 

But there were a few moments when her mind would succeed, erasing all thoughts of her present situation and the events leading up to it with ones of nights (or should she say days) spent with Nick at his or her apartment/house. They'd often leave shift together, heading to one's house to curl up together in front of the TV, (after putting in a movie, none of the soap opera junk that was on during the day), where many times they'd fall asleep. Other times, when they managed to stay awake, they'd just sit there and talk. About anything and everything. Their childhoods, parents, siblings (or lack of in Sara's case), school, stories about work, and even the color of the walls. What they were talking about wasn't important in the moment, it was the fact that they were together, and were able to have the conversations that mattered most. 

After Grissom and Warrick had arrived at the hospital to see Nick, everything went from calm to crazy in minus 30 seconds. 

All the nurses, doctors, candy stripers.. pretty much everyone who had a chance of being on the third (Nick's) floor in the last 2 hours was now a suspect, and had been rounded up into a large waiting room. The hospital was in an uproar about how were they suppose to take care of the patients when the CSI's were refusing to let them leave the room. The CSI's were in an uproar, because as they slowly worked their way, interviewing the various people, they came no closer to discovering how the envelope had shown up at the hospital. No one saw anything, hear anything or would say anything. 

The teen who had delivered the envelope was in tears, not sure what she'd done wrong. Catherine had left for a few minutes to drop Lindsay off at her sisters, before returning to join the mess. Nick was yelling at anyone who came with into 5 meters of him, wanting a wheel chair, or someone to take the IV line out, or SOMETHING, anything that would get him out of his room and into the mess in the waiting room. 

It eventually got to the point that Nick finally ripped his IV line from his arm, before storming out of his room, only to be caught by Warrick who immediately rushed Nick back to his room, barricading him inside, before hurrying off in a search for sedatives to calm Nick down. 

After three hours, they all agreed that it was pointless. No matter how many times you questioned people, changing questions, trying to trick people up, they couldn't. No one's statements changed, and no one had seen anything. They were still at the same place they'd been before.

Nick was sleeping in a sedative induced slumber when they left the hospital to return to the lab to see if Greg had any new results and to discuss the current info, or lack of info they had. 

The results they found back there were just as disappointing as the information they arrived with. The traces of saliva that had been found on the envelope turned out (predictably) to be Sara's. 

This criminal was smart. A fact that all the CSI's were quickly beginning to realize. It was Greg who suggested he was this smart because he had already gone through the system. Had learned a few things along the way. Just because he was smart now, doesn't mean he will continue to stay that way. He's got to mess up at some point, if only through human error. 

As Grissom once said, as well famous scientists over the years, whenever two things touch material is exchanged. The suspect had to have left at least something at the scene. 

"We've got something," Greg shouted as he ran into the break room, breathless.

"What is it Greg?" Warrick asked, not even looking up from the evidence he was going over. 

"The fingerprints. We got a match."

That got everyone's attention, as they all looked up from whatever they had been doing, freezing as they looked at Greg, hoping against hope that he wouldn't take back what he just said. 

"It took a while," Greg told them, "but we finally have a match. A Chris Domino's fingerprints were found at the scene. Now I looked through our database, and it appears he was arrested for sexual assault by us a couple years ago."  
"Shouldn't he still be in jail?" Catherine asked.

"That's what I though," Greg nodded. "So I phoned the penitentiary. It appears because it was his first actual conviction (he's been suspected in many more crimes) he got a light sentence and he was just released two weeks ago on good behavior." The others nodded their heads slowly, taking in the information. "And," Greg continued, "the two CSI's in charge of the case were Nick and Sara."

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Please read and review. Reviews are the only thing that motivates me to write. Also, many of you asked for a second chapter to the Christmas story I wrote. I wrote one, and I haven't had very many reviews about it. Can you please review it? It can be found @ http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=1139208&chapter=2 


	7. I Will Survive

Turn Back Time 

Part 7

By Joey

AN: Just a reminder that I don't own them. Although the slutty girl was right, Nick, (or Greg), you can defragment my harddrive anytime :)

Thanks for all the reviews.. sorry for not updating. Ever since second semester has started, I feel like I've been buried in school work.. stupid Universities :) Ahh.. well… I guess we all need breaks every once and a while :)   
  


As they entered Nick's hospital room, they found him sitting up in bed, a bored expression on his face as he flipped through the _People _magazine that rested on his lap. His face brightened immediately when he saw the others entering his room.

"Thank god," Nick told them, breathing a large sigh of relief. "They don't have any good magazines here. I had to get People, and I have to admit, I don't know how people can stand to read this! I wanted a forensics magazine, or at least one that dealt with science…or cars."

Grissom pulled a few magazines from his bag and held them out to the younger CSI. "Your wish is my command," Grissom joked as Nick grabbed them eagerly.

After Nick had taken a couple of minutes to flip through them, Grissom interrupted him.

"Nick?" Nick looked up. "We have some more information on the case." As soon as those words left Grissom's mouth, the magazines lay forgotten on Nick's lap. 

"Really?" Nick looked from one to the other. "What is it?"  
"Greg got a match on fingerprints found at the crime scene," Catherine told him. "A Chris Domino."

A brief flash of recognition passed over Nicks face before disappearing. "I feel I should know that name," Nick told them.

"A couple of years ago you and Sara had a sexual assault case," Warrick reminded Nick. "The suspect, and the one therefore put away for the crime, was Chris Domino."

Nick nodded his head slowly, pieces of the case slowly coming back. It was another case that Sara had gotten deeply involved in, like all sexual assault cases. There was something about those cases that always got to her, and he'd always meant to find out if there was something that had happened to her. They'd only been dating two months so far, and he hadn't even told her about his own past experience. 

"Do you remember the case?" Catherine asked Nick after a few moments of silence passed. 

"Yeah," Nick nodded. "I remember he was really bitter about it. He'd cleaned up the crime scene and everything. He'd tried to stage it to frame his best friend." Nick paused, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried to figure out what had happened back then. "It was strange. He'd even managed to get a hold of (and we're still kind of unsure as to how) a used condom. He'd really thought it through, the DNA and everything. It was such a confusing case because even as evidence pointed one way, the case actually went the other way. Isn't he still in jail?"  
"He got out just recently. Good behavior and all that," Warrick said with a bitter smile. 

"Do you ever remember if he threatened you or Sara?" Grissom asked Nick, sitting down on a chair near the bed.

"No…" Nick thought it through, before shaking his head. "At least I don't remember him saying anything while I was around. I guess it's possible he could have said something to Sara, but I never heard anything about it."

Catherine stood up and headed for the door. "I'm going to go back to the lab and ask Brass to get Chris' parole officer to bring him in."

Sara glanced at her watch for what seemed to be the 100th time in the last minute. In fact, she'd decided only a couple hours earlier, if she didn't have her watch with her, she'd be slowly going insane. (Although if her watch was analog, she was sure she'd go insane from the mundane ticking). But as it was, she watched the florescent numbers flick by, one by one, slowly changing until a new minute came about. And even then the seconds didn't stop, flickering on and on until soon an hour had passed. It was soothing to watch, knowing that even as this situation had put her entire world into a spin, changing everything, upsetting the delicate balance that was her life, time would still go on. He could change almost everything in her life, but he'd never be able to affect time: time really does wait for no one.

She hadn't seen her captor in a while now, ever since she'd started watching the numbers flash by on her watch. In some terms the lost of contact with her captor felt like a loss of contact with civilization, but yet she felt safer with him not in the same room as her. She knew it couldn't be long yet before Nick and the others would discover where she was. She knew they were one of the best crime labs and she refused to give up on them. They'd find her, they had too. 

"What's Nick doing here?" Catherine asked Grissom as she walked into his office. She'd just come from the break room, surprised to see Nick sitting on the couch watching TV.

"Huh?" Grissom asked, looking up from the file he was going over. 

"Nick? The break room?" Catherine reminded him of her question. 

"Oh, yeah," Grissom nodded, still not answering.

"Grissom!" Catherine half shouted. 

"What?" Grissom finally clued into the conversation. 

"What is Nick doing here. H-E-R-E?!" Catherine asked him, exasperated. 

"His doctor released him an hour ago, but he needs to stay with someone, and since Sara's not here, and we're all here, I thought I'd bring him to the lab, and we could keep an eye on him," Grissom sighed, removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I'm worried about him Catherine. I don't know what he'll do if we're not watching." He shook his head, and sighed, before looking up at Catherine again. "What are you here for?"

"Brass has Chris here. I thought you'd want to come and listen," Catherine told him, turning to the door to leave. She could hear Grissom rise immediately and follow her into the hall. 

"Chris?" the two turned when they heard the third voice.

"Nick?" Grissom questioned him, turning to face Nick, who was leaning against the wall just outside his office.

"Yeah? Chris? He's here?!" Nicks face turned into a mask of barely controlled anger and rage as he said the name. "Where is he?"

"Take it easy Nick," Catherine placed a hand on Nicks arm, trying to get him to calm down. 

"Excuse me Catherine," Nick impolitely removed Catherine's hand from his arm. "This isn't fair. It's _my_ girlfriend who's missing, not your boyfriend or boy-toy of the moment. If this … _bastard_.. is the guy who stole my girlfriend then …" Nick left the threat open ended, ignoring the enraged look that spread across Catherine's face as he spoke. He stormed away from the two. 

But, as Grissom noticed, he thankfully headed in the direction of the break room, not the interrogation rooms. Catherine looked ready to storm after Nick and give him an earful, but Grissom roughly pulled her in the opposite direction.

"Come on Cath, give him a break. He's stressed out and on the edge. We haven't been letting him help out," Grissom told her as they walked towards the interrogation room. 

"I know," Catherine looked behind her, towards the break room. "I'm not mad Grissom. A little upset, but hell, who wouldn't be. It's just frustrating. I feel like no matter how fast I try to move, I don't seem to move an inch," Catherine paused, before adding with a small smile. "It's like when you're little and you try to run in water."

"But there's courses on how to," Grissom added with a slight smile as well, before pushing open the door to the interrogation room, and following Catherine inside. 

Over in the break room, Nick collapsed onto the couch. His arm was throbbing, the pain causing a headache in his head as well. He was sick of being on painkillers though, and refused to take any more. They just made him feel so sleepy and out of it. A feeling he couldn't stand when there was so much to do. 

As he lay there on the couch, his gaze wandered around the room, slowly taking in the coffee maker (making annoying dripping sounds as drop after drop fell into the welcoming pot below). Normally that sound would drive him crazy, but as the coffee he normally managed to get from the break room was old, it was nice to know that his next cup would be nice and fresh.

His gaze continued to travel around the room until he noticed a brown envelope sitting on the table. Moving slowly he got off the couch and walked warily towards it. As he approached he, he quickly realized that it had Warrick's handwriting scrawled across it, and he noticed his name as well as Sara's. 

He picked it up, turning it upside down to let the contents fall to the table. It was the pictures that he'd found in his hospital room that rained onto the table. 

He quickly pulled chair up, and sat down, slowly going through the pictures, trying to ignore Sara who was clearly centered in all the shots. There had to be something that they'd missed. Something that had been caught on film without meaning too. The corner of a finger over the lens, a piece of paper in the back ground.. anything. It didn't matter how small. 

Straining his eyes over the pictures he could feel his headache intensify. He sighed, standing up, sliding the pictures together in a clump, before sticking them in his pocket. He needed a magnifying glass and a couple of asprin. He found some asprin in the cupboard, before leaving the room to find try and sneak a magnifying glass from Greg's lab. Luckily, Greg wasn't there at the moment, and it was a quick in and out job. 

He headed back to the break room, trying to ignore his impulse to barge into the interrogation room.  
As much as he'd love to pound in Chris' face, he knew that doing so would land him on suspension, and that Chris would probably go free. 

Sitting back at the break room table, he popped down the couple of asprin dry, before placing the pictures back on the table, ready to go over them again with a fine tooth comb.

Don't forget to please read and review. It's just that little button down below. The more reviews, the faster I promise the get the next chapter up. I don't think there's much left now!!!


	8. Take A Picture

Turn Back Time

Chapter 8

By Joey

Disclaimer: Well.. I still don't own them, Never have, and probably (stress probably, cos you gotta have hope) never will.

And I'd just like to blame you CSI writers for getting me hooked on Alias. I'm now SUPER obsessed… and I think it started with jhfortier's crossover… Agents in Vegas.. that one.. Ahhhh… I really didn't need another show obsession, but now every day, without fail, my neighbours (I'm in rez at university) pile into my room and we watch an episode so we can drool over Vaughn.. so if you haven't started watching Alias, you should.. trust me…Vaughn makes the whole show so TOTALLY worth it… 

AN: Sorry for taking FOR – FREAKING – EVER to continue this, but I hope this next part is worth it. I can only for see another two or three chapters before I bring this story to it's rest. 

Please continue to review, trust me, the only reason I'm continuing this is because of the emails I'd receive from FF.net asking me to do so :) This is for you guys

It took him a couple of hours, but then he saw it. There it was staring straight back at him, and he was surprised that they all had missed it before. It seemed so obvious now as he looked at the picture resting on the table in front of him. Now that he'd seen it, it was the first thing he saw when he glanced at the picture. It was small, alright, and you couldn't tell what it was without the help of a magnifying glass but it was still there. 

He carefully picked the picture up, placing it aside from all the others. He then placed the extras back into the envelope and placed the envelope back where he'd found it. Picking up the picture once again, he left the refuge of the break room, heading instead for the computer room, setting up by one that had a scanner. 

He scanned the picture into the computer, before opening it up in Adobe Photoshop™. He carefully isolated the corner, cropping the picture in a small square surrounding the object. He then discarded the rest of the picture, before enlarging the small portion. Yes it was definitely there. Once he'd found a reasonable size for the object, he opened up the brightness/contrast toolbar, and started to fiddle around with the buttons, before moving on to the other tools available to help bring out and sharpen the image. 

It was just a piece of newspaper really, and now that he had it slightly in focus, his excitement grew. The tiny scrap of paper that had been caught on film had part of the newspaper name, the date and page number on it. MES May 14th 2003 R7. Underneath the writing was part of a line of what looked like highlighter that had probably been used to circle some item on the page. MES. MES… he started listing off the Vegas papers he knew of. "The Vegas Hearld." "The Las Vegas Times Colonist." The Las Vegas Weekly." "The Las Vegas Times." "That's it!" Nick almost shouted, but instead he minimized the Adobe window and opened up Internet explorer, typing in www.lasveagstimes.com in the address bar. (note, don't even know if this is their newspaper or a correct website.. it's all fiction to me :)). The website quickly appeared on the screen before him, and he once again thanked the budget for providing for a high speed connection. He flipped through the days articles until he found a button that said back issues. Clicking that, it didn't take him long to find a copy of page R7 from May 14th. 

It turned out to be a page from the real estate section of the newspaper, full of listings for various locations throughout and around Las Vegas. Nick hit print for the page, before flipping back to Photoshop and printing out a copy of the changes he'd made to the picture. After collecting all of the printed pages as well as the original picture Nick left the computer lab and headed back to the break room. He placed the enlargement of the picture over the printout of the newspaper page and it matched perfectly. He grabbed a pen and continue from the highlighted line, finishing the loop, before looking at what listing he'd circled. 

"721 Rex Rd," he repeated aloud as he wrote the address down on a small piece of paper. "Don't worry Sara, I'm coming." Without bothering to clean up, he grabbed the scarp of paper and his keys and headed out the door to his Tahoe. He checked his glove compartment for his gun, and then checked to confirm that it was actually loaded, before he peeled out of the parking lot.

"Nick?" Grissom questioned walking into the break room, but all that greeted him was silence. "Nick?" Grissom looked around, but no one was in the room besides the clutter on the break room table. 

He turned around and left the break room, instead heading into the Greg's lab which had a nice view of the break room door. "Hey Greg?"

"Yeah Gris?" Greg stopped moving and settled into his chair facing his boss.

"Have you seen Nick lately?" Grissom asked, leaning against the door frame.

"Um, not since I arrived on shift a few hours ago. I thought he was hanging out in the break room?"

"That's where I left him, but he's not in there any more."

"Hmm… well if I see him I'll tell him you're looking for him."

"Thanks Greg," Grissom turned and left the room, continuing throughout the building asking everyone if they'd seen Nick. Most hadn't, and it wasn't until he ran into Jason Creal that he learned any information. 

"Yeah I saw him about forty-five minutes ago," Jason nodded from where he sat at his computer. "He came into the comp lab here, and did some work with the scanner before printing a few pages and leaving. Why, what's up?"

"Is there any way you can find out what he was working on?" Grissom asked, ignoring the computer technician's question. 

"Sure, just give me a sec and I'll pull it all up." Jason bent over the keyboard frantically clicking away at the keys before motioning to Grissom for him to come around the desk and he showed him the screen. "It looks like he was editing a picture. And he went on the internet for a while, and I've brought up the history of the sites he's visited today. The Las Vegas Times is the most frequent site."

"Any way you can determine what he printed?"

"Absolutely," Jason continued to click the keyboard keys for a few more minutes before facing Grissom again. "I can print of a copy of the page he printed from the internet, but I can't give you a copy of the picture because he didn't save it, just did some changes and got rid of it after printing."

"Thanks Jason," Grissom accepted the piece of paper Jason had printed for him, before leaving the lab to head back to the break room. _What was Nick looking at the real estate page for?_ Grissom questioned himself, as he entered the break room. He moved over to the table, before reaching out an arm to sweep all the pages to the side but then he froze. Lying on the table was the original of the page in his hand, and scattered around it were a couple of the pictures that Nick had received at his hospital room, as well as some notes, and what looked like enlarged and edited versions of one picture in particular. 

He set the page he'd printed off to the side and picked up the original. Nick had circled one of the addresses in black marker. He sank into the chair, quickly piecing together the pieces Nick had left behind. "Oh SHIT!" Grissom swore, grabbing his cell phone off his belt and he stood up and turned to the door. 

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Catherine asked as she entered the room, raising an eyebrow, but Grissom ignored her. 

"Brass?" he barked into his phone. "Yeah, I need a warrant for 721 Rex Road. That's 7 2 1 Rex Road." There was a pause before he continued on. "Yes I have probable cause. Nick found evidence in the pictures that were delivered to him, a scrap of newspaper got caught on the film and it contained the date and page number, as well as part of a circle some had formed around something on the page. He found the page Brass, it was real estate listings, the one circled is 721 Rex Road." Grissom started nodding to the phone, forgetting momentarily that cell phones don't transmit nods. 

"Right, I'll meet you guys there in ten minutes." Grissom paused again. "Nick? Umm.. no, I can't find him. I have a bad feeling about this Jim." Grissom snapped his cell off before reattaching it too his belt and heading out of the room. Catherine who had been diligently eavesdropping followed in his footsteps. 

"Do you know where Sara is?" She asked him as she followed him to his Tahoe.

"Hopefully," Grissom eye's scanned the parking lot, but they didn't register surprise when they realized that Nick's Tahoe wasn't in the parking lot. 

Spontaneity is a good trait, normally. He just hoped that it wouldn't get Nick, or Sara killed. 

As Nick pulled drove by the address, he seemed to be pulled from the daze he'd been in since he'd discovered the address.

What was he doing here? How much could he really do on his own with no back up? He may have been part of the police in his past, but that was years ago now, and his training as of late did not consist of how to break into houses, how to take down a kidnapper without getting hurt in return. And it definitely didn't tell him how to do this when one arm was still bandaged from a gun shot wound. 

Everything was screaming at him to stop. To phone Gris or Brass, anyone for that matter to help him out. Why hadn't he grabbed Warrick on his way out of the building. Why? Why? Why? So many why's, but even as he body and conscious was telling him to not go any farther further he found him self parking his Tahoe a few houses down the road, and grabbing his gun, gaining strength from the cold metal he was caressing in his hand. He opened rooted around in the back seat, relieved to find that he still had his bullet proof vest in the Tahoe. He pulled it on, wincing as his wounded arm was stretched, groaning as the weight of the vest settled over his chest. He'd forgotten how heavy the vests were, and as he started to move towards the house, started to realize that even with spending all that time at the gym, he wasn't in nearly good enough shape to be doing what he was about to do.

As he approached the door he tried to remember the strategy he had decided on during the drive to the address, but as the door loomed ahead of him, his mind went blank, and he stood by the door for a few moments before finally just reaching out and ringing the door knob. He wasn't sure what to expect, or if to expect anything at all. For all he knew, Chris was still be detained at the police station, being interrogated by Brass. But, for all he knew, Chris might be standing on the other side of the door with a gun ready to blow his head off. Chris obviously wasn't afraid of using a gun, as the white bandage on his arm attested to. 

He rang the door knob once more, waiting for someone, anyone to answer the door. 

"I don't think he's home," Nick almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. He paused first, getting his wits about him, before spinning around to see who was talking, keeping the hand holding the gun hidden behind him. 

There was a woman working on her garden across the street and an house over who'd stood up and was looking over at him.

"Pardon?" Nick called across to the woman.

"I don't think he's home. I haven't seen anyone there in probably close to a day."

"Thanks," Nick nodded to the women, before glancing briefly at the house. "Well, he told me he'd be here, I guess I'll go check around back." Nick reached into his pocket and pulled out his house key, he held it up for the other woman to see. "He gave me a key in case he wasn't here, but I think he said it was for the back door. Thanks again for your help," Nick gave the woman his disarming smile before keeping his gun close to his side, as he circled around the side of the house, checking windows for signs of life as he moved about. 

He approached the back door, and glanced around furtively. Thankfully the property didn't back on to any others, and there were some nice large trees blocking him from the view of neighbours on either side. _Probably why he chose this house._ Nick thought to himself, _that is, assuming this is the correct house_.

Nick moved slightly away from the door, standing sideways, so that his good shoulder was facing the door. "Don't worry Sara, I'm coming." Nick said softly before rushing forward, thanking his training from football as he shoulder connected with the door. 

TBC :) (That is, if I still receive the kind of response I was receiving for earlier chapters)


	9. I See You

Turn Back Time

Chapter 9

By Joey

Okay, this chapter is quite a bit shorter, ('bout half the size) of my others, but I really wanted to update, to show you guys that I'm not planning on leaving it for a few months again. 

Also, I originally wanted to update on June 25th cos that was my 19th b-day.. but I wasn't ready, so instead I thought today would be just as good a day as any as it's Canada Day! And well, I'm Canadian and I guess I should do something to celebrate my country's 136th birthday.. not as good as mine, but not bad.. and I don't want to be hanging out with my sister and her boyfriend either :( Bla!

Anyway.. please read and review..

He was prepared for the smash of his shoulder against the hard wood of the door. What he wasn't prepared for was what happened, the door went flying open, smashing into the wall, and Nick went flying through the now open doorway into the counter in the middle of the room. 

After he gingerly picked himself off the floor, rubbing his side that had connected with the sharp edge of the counter top, (there'd be a bruise by tomorrow), he turned back to survey the door. 

While the door had appeared solid from the outside, now that he could inspect it from the inside, he realized that the wood was rotting away around the lock, and all it had needed was a little force to completely break through. 

He repositioned his gun in his hand, moving forward through the kitchen to the doorway into the hallway, ready to inspect the rest of the rooms. He felt like a spy as he let his gun travel around corners before him as he moved throughout the first floor. What felt like an hour later, in reality it had been just over five minutes, he was sure that the first floor of the house was clear. 

There were stairs leading upstairs and down. He decided to check the basement first, as the pictures of Sara looked like they had come from a basement type setting. He opened the basement door, reaching out his empty hand to flick on the light, before starting down the stairs. 

He'd been face to face with a gun twice in his 33 years, and both times had brought him close, if not to tears. But the fear he'd felt then, was nothing to the fear he was feeling now as he approached the bottom steps. Either he was seconds away from meeting up with Sara, or he had just found another dead end, and it would be back to the drawing table. 

"Please," Nick whispered the small prayer as his feet his the sturdy floor of the basement. There were two doors to choose from now, one on his left, and one to the right. After tossing a mental coin, he chose the right door to check first, but was disappointed when it opened to only show a an empty closet with a few old blankets and towels on the shelves. 

Gathering up his courage, he turned around and headed to the other door. He opened it, gun pointing into what ever recess should appear, eyes closed, not wanting to see what was on the other time. He knew he'd set his hope too high, and that it'd be to easy for him to leave this disappointed. 

The sound of another person is what caused him to finally open his eyes again and look into the room that was beckoning to him. There, in the center of the room was a chair, two arms handcuffed to the back of it, but hands he'd recognize anywhere. The person on the chair was shaking in fear. 

"Sara?!" Nick exclaimed as he rushed into the room. 

"Nick?" A weak voice is all he got in return, but it was enough for him. Nick could feel the tears start to slide down his cheeks as he moved around the chair to face Sara from the front. 

Her eyes were hidden behind a blindfold, which he reached up to take off when Sara's voice stopped him. "No."

"No?" Nick questioned, confused. 

"Nick, we need pictures. This is a crime scene," Sara reminded him in a matter-of-fact tone, very different from the voice that had responded to his call seconds earlier.

Nick almost burst out laughing at the change that had seemed to take place in a matter of milliseconds. He knew at that moment that she was going to be alright. "Okay, but I don't have my kit on me at the moment Sara, I think we can make an exception this time."

"Uh-uh," Sara shook her head as Nick once again reached for her blindfold. "Nick, there's no fucking way I'm letting this guy get off on a technicality. Go get your kit, I can sit here for a few more minutes."

Nick nodded in defeat, before remembering that she couldn't see him. "Fine," he agreed. But as he moved to leave the room, the sound of footsteps overhead stopped him in his path. He looked at Sara to see if she'd heard them as well, but he didn't need to ask, as he could already see the change in her posture as she'd frozen in fear. Nick carefully closed the door to the room he and Sara were in, before moving to the side of the door, gun aimed, prepared for who ever was going to walk through the door next. 

"First floor's clear," Brass called out to the group of CSI's huddled around one of their Tahoe's. They immediately picked up their kits and moved forward towards him, entering the house. "I've sent two men to check upstairs, but I figure if she's here, she'll be in the basement. You guys need to wait up here for us to clear down there first."

"We'll just look around on this floor," Catherine nodded, speaking for the team, who picked up their kits and started moving about the floor. 

Brass moved away from them, heading to the group who was standing by the basement door, preparing to move down. Brass moved to the front of the group, gun held firmly in front of him as the led the way down the stairs. When the reached the bottom, the group split into two, Brass leading a few men to the door on the left, and the rest going to the right. 

"On the count of three," Brass instructed his men, who all nodded in response. "One…Two…THREE!" 

On both sides of the hallway the men moved forward, flinging the doors open. Then men on the right, were disappointed as they found themselves facing a broom closet. The men with Brass on the left however, were in for a surprise as they pushed open the door and came face to face with a gun. 

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	10. Lean On Me

Turn Back Time

Chapter 10

By Joey

AN: Once again, I don't own the characters or anything. I think this will be the last chapter; although I am considering writing an epilogue.. so review if you want one. I think the ending is kind of short… I've been just wanting this story to finally be over.. and it is :) Yea me, considering I usually never finish stories and I wrote and finished TWO csi fics now…I'm so proud.. 

Anyway, thanks everyone's for the reviews and getting me over 100.. you guys all rock. And onto the story…

"Brass?"

"Nick?" The two looked at each other in shock, guns still at the ready, before the two relaxed their arms, quickly placing the safety on again. 

"Brass?" A weak voice joined the cries. 

"Sara?" Brass moved further into the room, as Nick stood in the way of the rest of the officers from entering and ruining the crime scene. 

"Hi Brass," came Sara's soft reply as Brass moved around in front of her.

"Nick, how come you've yet to remove her bindings?" Brass faced Nick.

"I actually only arrived here a few minutes before you did."

"I told him not too," Sara once again spoke up. "It's a crime scene, Brass, he'll ruin the evidence. I told him to go get his kit when we heard someone coming down the stairs."

"I thought Chris might be back," Nick added. 

"We've still got him down at the station, but he's not saying anything," Brass replied.

"Then how'd you know where to go?" Nick posed the question, confused.

"You left everything lying out in the break room, and once Grissom saw it, he quickly put everything together as you had and it took almost no time to convince a judge into giving us a warrant." Brass replied, before he turned away to face his men who were just standing around, waiting for further instructions. "Abbott, Ruben, can you two round up Grissom and the team. Tell them Sara's here, but we need a couple of kits down here ready to process the scene. We don't want Domino to be able to get away on a technicality."

The two young officers hurried from the room, and Brass turned his attention back to Sara. "Sara, did you ever actually see Chris' face. Would you be able to identify him from a police lineup?"

She shook her head slowly, a sad frown crossing her face as she did so. "He wore a navy blue ski mask whenever I saw him. His voice… I felt like I heard his voice before." Sara stopped moving for a second, before exclaiming loudly, "Wait, who's Chris?"

"Fuck!" Nick exclaimed, realizing too late his mistake in mentioning their suspects name.

"Well, that puts a line-up out of the question," Brass muttered, having followed Nick's exclaim with a few choice words of his own. "Even a voice line-up now that you've heard…know…"

"Shouldn't matter, you should be able to get all the proof you need out of this room, this house alone." Sara inserted, a slight smile gracing her faces. "Any chance the kits going to be arriving soon? As much as I enjoy preserving evidence, I don't really relish the feel of this cloth against my eyes, or the handcuffs cutting into my wrists."

"Have no fear, help is here," Greg's voice brightened the dimly lit room as he entered, followed closely by Grissom, Catherine and Warrick. The latter two immediately opened their kits, selecting the tools they would need, (tweezers, bags, labeling markers, scissors, lock picking kit) in order to free Sara.

"Sara," the word left Grissoms' mouth with more emotion that any other statement the team had ever heard. Even Sara could feel a few tears well up in her eyes (although they were immediately soaked into the cloth covering her eyes). 

Warrick headed over to the back of the chair, bending down so his eyes were level with the handcuffs that were clutching Sara's wrists in their evil grip. "Hey Brass? I think these might be police issue, any chance you have your key on you?" Brass pulled a key ring from his pocket, selected the right one and tossed it to Warrick.

Catherine had moved to Sara's front, and using a pair of tweezers grasped a small portion of the blindfold, pulling it up and off of Sara's face before sticking it into a small plastic bag that she immediately labeled. Now that Sara's eyes were free, she blinked rapidly, trying to get use to what felt like blinding light, although appeared dim to the others. Nick moved back to in front of her, slightly pushing Catherine out of the way. He bent down, making his eyes level with hers, "Oh my god, Sara." 

Once again Sara could feel the tears welling up, although this time when the first few broke free, they were able to slide down her cheeks, creating paths in the dirt and grime that seemed to be caked on.

"Yes," Warrick exclaimed as the click of the locks fell free, the handcuffs falling into another plastic evidence bag he held under them. Her hands free, Sara immediately brought them to the front of her, gently looking at her wrists which were rubbed raw, a few places cracked and bleeding from her attempts to get free.

Nick reached out to grab hold of her hand, but this time it was Catherine who stopped him, reaching out and pulling him back softly by one shoulder. "Just let me get samples from under her fingernails and take a few swabs." Nick nodded mutely, watching quietly, before standing up and moving over to one of the officers who was standing by the door. "Do you have a first aid kit?" He asked him, to which the officer nodded, turning quickly to leave the room and retrieve. Standing in the doorway, Nick looked around at all the people at work in the room. Catherine and Warrick were still gathering evidence from Sara, who hadn't spoken much since everyone had entered the room. Brass stood off in one corner watching the proceedings, and Greg and Grissom went about snapping pictures and searching the room for any other evidence to tie Chris to the crime.

As Catherine was finishing up with Sara's hands and wrists, the officer returned with the first aid kit. Forgetting to thank him, Nick took the kit and hurried back to Sara's side. He opened the kit, retrieving alcohol?? to place on her wrists, and some gauze bandages to wrap them with, before taking Sara's right hand in his, and tenderly going about the process of cleaning away the blood from the cuts and bandaging up her wrists. 

Sara watched silently as Nick went to work on her wrists, drawing warmth from the touch of his hands on her bare skin. It wasn't until Nick shifted positions, causing him to wince slightly from pain, that the memories of the event returned. 

"Oh my god, Nick." Sara's words caused Nick to stop mid-motion, moving his gaze from her wrist to her eyes. But they weren't looking back at him, well at least not his eyes, they were staring at his right shoulder, where, when he turned his head slightly he could see the bandages from his arm was peaking through. "Your shoulder." 

"It's almost completely better now," Nick tried to reassure her, giving her his infamous grin.

"He… he told me you were dead," Sara whispered, the tears that had been threatening for minutes to overflow did just so. Ignoring the protests from Catherine and Warrick, Nick immediately leapt forward, pulling Sara into his arms, letting her cry onto his shoulder as he did the same on hers. He leaned back on to his heels, supporting both their weight, as Sara was now sitting pretty much in his lap. 

"Nick… Sara…" Catherine tried to quietly interrupt their moment. After a few more minutes, she was a bit more successful, the two turning their teary faces to look at her. "Come on guys, let's go upstairs. Sara, we're going to need your clothes for evidence, I've got some coveralls you can put on in my trunk, and Nick, we're going to need your shirt now too incase of cross-contamination." 

"There's a set of clean clothes in my trunk," Warrick offered, tossing his keys to Catherine. 

"I have clothes," Nick stated, looking up from where he still had a firm grasp on Sara. "I have my Tahoe here too, remember."

"Right," Catherine nodded, remembering the hastly parked Tahoe they'd found when they arrived. "Come on," she motioned to them to stand up, which they did so, but Nick kept an arm wrapped around Sara's shoulders, the two refusing to let the other go as they followed Catherine out of the room and up the stairs. Once the reached the main level of the house, Catherine left the two in one of the side rooms, sitting on a couch as she left to retrieve some clothing for the two. 

The two sat there, both not moving, or talking, just holding on to each other, afraid if they let go for a moment they'd lose each other again. 

Catherine returned with a pile of clothes. She handed Nick a pair of his pants and a t-shirt she'd found in his vehicle, before turning to Sara. "Sara, Nick had some extra clothes, so I brought you a pair of his sweatpants, a t-shirt and sweatshirt, and… well and a pair of boxers. We need all of your clothes," she handed the stack of clothes to Sara. "I'll give you a few minutes." She left the room, shutting the door behind her to give the two some privacy. 

She hadn't been waiting long, before Nick opened the door to let her back into the room. They'd left their clothes in a neat pile for Catherine, the two standing together again, the tears still apparent on both of their faces.

"Nick, Sara, why don't we get someone to drive you two to the hospital, so we can get Sara checked out." She suggested, and the two just nodded mutely, following her as she left the room again, this time locating another young cop and delegating the job to him. "We'll bring your Tahoe by in a couple of hours," Cath informed Nick, before letting them climb into the cop car and watching it pull away from the curb, away from the madness. Catherine then turned back to the house, ready to process what ever evidence still lay behind. 

Sara was looked after almost immediately upon entry to the emergency room, and although dehydrated, was declared fine physically, just in need of liquids. Mentally, well, no one needed to even diagnose her condition on this one, it was apparent just from her lack of speaking, that there was emotion damage. But it was also apparent that the best cure was probably just for her and Nick to spend some time together, and, if need be later, for her to seek out a psychologist. 

They found the Polaroid camera, and blue ski mask left behind at the house. The blue ski mask contained a few hairs and skin cells that they could link through DNA to Chris, guaranteeing his imprisonment for the crime. 

Chris finally confessed, in an attempt to get some leniency for his crimes (not likely to work as he _had_ kidnapped an officer of the law, as well as attempted murder on another). The original crime, that had started the whole case off turned out to be a murder/suicide, except that in this case, the one who'd committed suicide hadn't also been the murderer. Fred, the husband, had committed suicide, but a note was found at the house where Sara had been kept explaining that he was doing so because he was depressed over his wife's cheating. Chris had been listening to the police scanner, and had headed over to the house as soon as he heard the neighbour phone the police on account of shoots heard. He figured if he wasn't lucky that time with Sara being at the location, he'd just try again. He got to the house, planning to find a hiding spot, but while he was searching, the wife, Silvia, arrived home and found him. He'd pulled his gun, shooting her down, before grabbing the suicide note he'd found earlier, setting the stage for mis-interpretation. Unfortunately, before he had a chance to get to Sara, Nick had discovered the difference in the bullets and had started on the search of the house, running into him as he hid. In his rush to escape, he did the first thing that came to mind, pull the trigger, getting Nick out of the way so he could move downstairs. He was actually just going to get out of there, and try again another day, but then Sara had come around the corner, giving him the perfect opportunity, one that he didn't let go to waste. 

The End

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